Feb. 20--PITTSBURG -- With its manicured lawn and stucco facade, the two-story home on Tampico Drive blended in with the rest of the new housing development on the west side of town. Neighbors say adults and even a young child came and went.
So when flames shot from the roof on Jan. 25, devouring the entire second story, residents were amazed by what authorities found inside: a sophisticated operation where thousands of marijuana plants sprouted throughout every bedroom of the suburban home.
"It looked normal," said Armin Sohrabi, who lives across the street in a neighborhood not yet one year old. "You assume they're a family. That's all we thought. I guess people should be more attentive."
While illegal residential pot farms are not new in California, there is no federal fire standard listing them as a specific cause of a fire, so state and national data is limited. But such tracking has begun locally, and officials say the data suggests it is a growing epidemic, a fire danger lurking behind the front doors of ordinary-looking homes in every corner of Contra Costa County.
Less than two weeks before the Tampico Drive fire, Antioch police seized nearly 1,000 plants from a home on Hidden Glen Drive after a single-alarm fire broke out on Jan. 15. Similar blazes have been reported in San Pablo, Hercules and Oakley within the Contra Costa Fire Protection District, which covers 304 square miles in eastern, central and western parts of the county.
The department has also seen fires started by people using butane to turn marijuana into hash oil, a process that can result in explosions when lingering butane finds an ignition source. Last year, an Oakley man lit a cigarette while making hash oil, causing an explosion that severely burned 90 percent of his body, authorities said. In a district averaging 200 home fires a year, 20 fires were caused by illegal pot growing in 2013, up from 10 the previous year, according to Fire Prevention Capt. Robert Marshall.
"That's the tip of the iceberg," said Fire Investigator Vic Massenkoff. He added that there are hundreds of grow operations authorities have not yet located spread throughout the county, with eastern Contra Costa a hotbed. The spike has the department rethinking its approach to fighting electrical fires, hardening its stance on prosecuting occupants of the homes, and pushing to educate residents on the telltale signs of a grow house.
Massenkoff gave a tour of the Tampico Drive home Wednesday. The one-year-old house was purchased new and quickly turned into a grow house, a break from typical operations that are run out of older model rentals, officials said. Any clues from the outside -- drapes pulled shut over windows, unusual security measures, and no garbage cans outside on garbage day -- can be subtle, Massenkoff said.
One step inside, however, revealed the charred house was once a Xanadu of illegal indoor pot growing. A futon, a table and a coffee pot were the only typical household items seen in the five-bedroom, three-bath residence. A downstairs room and the entire upstairs were dedicated to growing marijuana, about 1,000 plants -- enough to earn the grower an estimated profit between $1 million and $2 million.
Like many homes Massenkoff has seen in Contra Costa, the occupants used a complex wiring system, suggestive of the work of a trained electrician, to bypass the electrical system to keep the high usage under the radar while powering a maze of lights, fans and vents in each of the rooms.
It was the modified electrical circuitry and wiring that sparked the fire -- and that has raised concerns about fire crews entering such homes. One battalion chief was nearly electrocuted, Massenkoff said, when he entered the upstairs after the flames were out and moved a wire that was still energized.
"When you walked into these houses that are burning with water all over the place and wires hanging down, you might as well be walking into that house naked," Massenkoff said. "There is no gear that will protect you from electrocution."
As a result of the Tampico fire, the department has drafted a new policy directing fire crews to not enter a home once it is confirmed to be a grow operation unless they believe civilian lives are in danger or utility crews have shut off power. The new policy could be viewed as an about-face to a firefighter's instinct to rush on the offensive to extinguish flames, but it's necessary, Massenkoff said.
Contra Costa fire officials are working with prosecutors and police officers to legally pursue occupants of illegal grow homes. Authorities say they will not pursue those who are growing marijuana legally under The Compassionate Use Act, passed by state voters in 1996.
In one case, fire officials are seeking to recoup from a homeowner money spent fighting and investigating a fire, Massenkoff said. Authorities also have the option of charging occupants under a section of the state penal code that applies to people who recklessly cause a fire, a felony charge that is a step below arson.
"We hope it becomes a deterrent," Massenkoff said. "They feel they are almost immune to getting caught."
David DeBolt covers breaking news. Contact him in Richmond at 510-262-2728. Follow him at Twitter.com/daviddebolt.
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